Open Talk: Japan’s “Memorial Service for Living Creatures” and “Memorial Service for Everything”
A variety of religious artifacts that worship and cherish organisms and goods other than humans, which should be called living creatures and anything but retirement, are ubiquitous everywhere in Japan. Although the total number is unknown, it is at the stage of investigating more than 2,600 relics at present.
For example, memorial services for brushes, paper, needles, and dolls are well known, but the reality is much more diverse. It serves as food for various marine creatures such as whales, sea bream, and sandfish, as well as for terrestrial animals such as plants, livestock such as horses, dogs, cats, and chickens and cows, and even for exterminated organisms such as termites and cockroaches, as well as for fish. Even Yumushi is offered as a memorial service.
In addition, the practice of offering memorial services to bridges, solar eclipses, utensils such as knives, and even industrial products such as automobiles is still continuing, and new memorial services continue to be created.
In this seminar, by trying analysis focusing on its sharacteristics, Professor Aida will delve deeper into this theme, taking into account the trends and current situation of memorial services in Japan, China, Taiwan, and other countries.
- Day & Time：October 29th, 2024 (Tueday), 14:00-15:00
- Venue：Lab (2nd floor of WIHL)
- Language：Japanese
- Participation：Free
- Participants：Students, Faculty and Public
- Presented by the Yanai Initiative for Globalizing Japanese Humanities, with support from the Waseda International House of Literature
Lecture
Mitsuru Aida
He is an Associate Professor at the National Institute of Japanese Literature. His research examines the Wakan comparative literature and Digital Humanities.
Facilitator
Yi Dan
Yanai Initiative Postdoctoral Research Fellow
Contact
Yanai Initiative for Globalizing Japanese Humanities: [email protected]
